Ombudsman: Cabin Fever

A couple are hit with a sizable charge when they try to switch staterooms

To celebrate my retirement, my husband and I decided to take a Patagonia cruise, and we chose to travel on Norwegian Cruise Line. Since my husband is a savvy trip planner, we decided against contacting a travel agent. He read everything he could find about the cruise line to teach himself what to consider before reserving a room; then he called Norwegian directly and booked a category E cabin on deck 5 for a 14-day cruise aboard the Norwegian Dream.

Three months after booking, we learned that the cabin we had paid for had a connecting door. My husband is very sensitive to noise and cigarette smoke, so he asked that we be moved to a mid-ship, portside cabin with a picture windowlike our original cabinbut without such a door. The agent said that there was nothing on deck 5, but that deck 6 had open cabins. We changed our reservation to a category C cabin on deck 6 and were charged an extra $900 since it was a higher category of accommodation.

Later, when studying Norwegian's brochure, we noticed that our deck 6 cabin was under the jogging tracksomething the cruise line's consultant had not mentioned. We again called Norwegian and asked to be moved. Nothing was available, but several days later a category E cabin on deck 5 opened up. We took it. Because we were once more in a lower stratum of accommodation, we requested a refund, but the Norwegian agent said that he had no authority to grant us one. Before the sailing, I wrote to the line's president and received no response. After the cruise, we were told that although the charges incurred when we switched cabins were correct, Norwegian was giving us as a goodwill gesture $200 in onboard certificates for a future cruise.

We never received an answer as to why the cruise line kept our $900 for a cabin we didn't occupyand also charged the couple who did use that cabin (the cruise was full). Can you help?

Gail Craig

DULUTH, MINNESOTA

This letter highlights the importance of doing your homework before booking a cruise, as well as the pitfalls of not using a travel agent: A good agent could have identified precisely what the Craigs wanted and made sure that they were booked in the right cabin from the get-go. But hindsight is 20/20, and the Craigs felt that they were entitled to a refund after they downgraded their cabin category. A short time after writing to us, the couple did receive an additional $700 in onboard certificateswhich, combined with the $200 they had already received, equaled the amount they were seeking to recoup. The problem was that the certificates were valid for one year, but the Craigs were going to be out of the country for two years and thus would be unable to use them. On top of that, the couple still wanted to know why they weren't entitled to a $900 refund. So Ombudsman wrote to Norwegian to see if it would extend the expiration date on the cruise certificates and shed some light on the forfeited $900.

According to the company's records, the Craigs had been advised at the time they asked to be moved back to the category E cabin that they would not receive a refund because the price of that cabin had increased and was now the same as that of the category C cabin they no longer wanted. The rates for cabins, like hotel rooms, are governed by supply and demand, and the Patagonia sailing was a popular holiday cruiseand one with limited availability. By the time the Craigs decided to rebook a category E cabin, the supply had dwindled and so the rate had increased. Norwegian did, however, agree to extend the Craigs' certificates to the end of 2011 to accommodate their schedule, and Ombudsman applauds the cruise line for making an exception.

The best way to avoid the problems that the Craigs encountered is to book the right cabin from the start. Go through a checklist with your travel agent: Port or starboard? Fore, aft, or mid-ship? Inside cabin or one with a balcony? Near an elevator? Quick access to the gym? By booking early, you might save moneya number of cruise lines offer discounts of up to ten percentand you are more likely to have first dibs on the cabin you really want. Provided, of course, you know which one that is.